28 Nov 2010 | News and features
Index on Censorship has obtained copies of correspondence between whistleblowing website Wikileaks and the US embassy in the United Kingdom, which took place between Friday and Sunday. They reveal Wikileaks editor in chief’s last-minute attempt to seek the cooperation of the United States government in redacting information from the latest controversial release of documents.
Mark Stephens of Finers Stephens Innocent, who represents Julian Assange in the UK, is a trustee of Index of Censorship.
26 November
Julian Assange, Editor in Chief, WikiLeaks
to
US Ambassador to London, Louis Susman
Subject to the general objective of ensuring maximum disclosure of information in the public interest, WikiLeaks would be grateful for the United States Government to privately nominate any specific instances (record numbers or names) where it considers the publication of information would put individual persons at significant risk of harm that has not already been addressed. PDF
27 November
Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser, United States Department of State
to
Julian Assange, Editor in Chief, WikiLeaks
We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained U.S. Government classified materials. PDF
28 November
Julian Assange, Editor in Chief, WikiLeaks
to
US Ambassador to London, Louis Susman
I understand that the United States government would prefer not to have the information that will be published in the public domain and is not in favour of openness. That said, either there is a risk or there is not. You have chosen to respond in a manner which leads me to conclude that the supposed risks are entirely fanciful and you are instead concerned to suppress evidence of human rights abuse and other criminal behaviour. PDF
27 Nov 2010 | Uncategorized
The latest Wikileaks data dump may shed light on the US and UK militaries’ true relationship with the aid agencies on which they’ve come to depend on, to try and win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the Afghan populace.
The counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy beloved by US field commander David Petraeus relies to no small part on this aid, channelled through so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) jointly run by civilian & military teams across the country.
But this dependence has some worried about the “militarization” of aid, with NGOs like CARE International and Oxfam International arguing that aid is being directed to parts of the country where the fighting is most intense and COIN tactics most entrenched.
US and British forces deny the linkage is damaging, claiming that partnership with the military is the quid pro pro for aid groups that need security to deliver aid securely, a claim disputed by many journalists and aid workers alike.
The truth will out in the reports shared between soldiers and diplomats uploaded to Wikileaks. Undeniably though, the military latter regard aid work as gateway to a rich source of intelligence.
Desperate as local military intelligence teams are for any intel at all, they are also under pressure to be seen to be delivering it – sourced – to their commanders.
Contributors to the content of the leaked diplomatic cables may attribute information to NGOs but contextualise it as information given directly or exclusively to them, or just presented as intelligence. The result may be that aid workers may be made to look to be closer to the military than they are.
For some, embarrassingly, there may be allegations of corruption or incompetence raised as part of the “everyday analysis and candid assessments” that the cables are supposed to facilitate, that taken out of context may cause problems for some NGOs.
27 Nov 2010 | Uncategorized
Conservative Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest East, is not an MP who got in hot water over his expenses.
We need to get that out of the way, because any suggestion that Julian Lewis, MP, was not, er, wearing an entirely straight crease when he claimed £119 for a wall-mounted trouser press on expenses would be incorrect.
So incorrect that were you to suggest, say on the letters page of your local newspaper that what MPs including Lewis claimed on expenses was “unacceptable”, you would very quickly receive a solicitors letter, ordering you that should you ever repeat the suggestion, you would more than likely end up facing a lengthy, expensive defamation suit.
This is exactly what happened to Mr Richard Grant of Burley in the New Forest.
Mr Grant wrote a letter to his local paper, the New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times, expressing exasperation at his local MP, Sir Christopher Chope.
Grant was exasperated at what he saw as Sir Christopher’s unwillingness to get on with the job of working with the Lib Dems in the coalition government.
As an aside, he added that neighbouring MP Lewis seemed, in his view, to be behaving in the same way.
Lewis responded in the paper’s letters page, which one would imagine would be the end of the story.
Unfortunately not so.
Mr Grant soon received a letter from Lewis’s solicitors, warning him that any suggestion that the MP’s expense claims were “unacceptable” would be considered defamatory.
Grant has not taken this lying down, and has written to David Cameron asking for an apology.
Read a little more over at the Sunday Telegraph (including comment from Index and the Libel Reform Campaign)
27 Nov 2010 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa
Parliamentary elections are Sunday in Egypt, so here’s a heavily Egypt-centric collection of related links, plus some other happenings around the region
In advance of parliamentary elections in Egypt, the regime is cracking down on opposition politicians and harassing journalists. One journalist was rounded up covering street protests in Alexandria and is being held on what his supporters claim are trumped up drug possession charges.
Egyptian blogger Ahmed Bassyouni is being sent to the country’s notorious military tribunals. His crime: publishing “military secrets” for apparently starting an Arabic Facebook page that answers questions about Egypt mandatory military service. Amnesty International says all the information Bassyouni provided is available in the public domain.
Cairo has successfully fended off a push to allow international monitors to observe the elections. However some local monitoring groups are determined to closely observe the vote and use social media as a means of organizing and disseminating information. But some question whether Egypt’s social media boom has really succeeded in producing political change on the streets.
In Saudi Arabia, a journalist was sentenced to two months in prison and 50 lashes for writing about public anger over chronic electricity cuts. Fahd al-Jukhaidib was convicted of inciting the public against the government.
In Kuwait, the trend toward privatisation in the telecommunications industry has been accompanied by a parallel crackdown on the type of camera people can carry in public. All photographers in Kuwait are now banned from using digital SLRs in public places, only recognized journalists are exempt from the ban.
